“Let the long contention cease;Geese are swans, and swans are geese;Let them have it how they will,Thou art tired. Best be still!”In Tennyson’s “Lord of Burleigh,” when the sorrowful husband comes to look upon his dead wife, the verse runs almost entirely in monosyllables:—“And he came to look upon her,And he looked at her, and said:‘Bring the dress, and put it on her,That she wore when she was wed.’”An American writer has well indicated the force of the English monosyllable in the following sonnet:—“Think not that strength lies in the big,roundword,Or that thebriefandplainmust needs be weak.To whom can this be true who once has heardThe cry for help, the tongue that all men speak,When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat,So that each word gasped out is like a shriekPressedfrom the sore heart, or astrange, wildnoteSung by somefayor fiend! There is a strength,Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine,Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length;Let but thisforceof thought and speech be mine,And he that will may take the sleek fatphrase,Which glows but burns not, though it beam and shine;Light, but no heat,—a flash, but not a blaze.”It will be observed that this sonnet consists entirely of monosyllables, and yet that the style of it shows considerable power and vigour. The words printed in italics are all derived from Latin, with the exception of the wordphrase, which is Greek.11.Change in the Order of Words.—The syntax—or order of words—of the oldest English was very different from that of Norman-French. The syntax of an Old English sentence was clumsy and involved; it kept the attention long on the strain; it was rumbling, rambling, and unpleasant to the ear. It kept the attention on the strain, because the verb in a subordinate clause was held back, and not revealed till we had come to theend of the clause. Thus the Anglo-Saxon wrote (though in different form and spelling)—“When Darius saw, that he overcome be would.”The newer English, under French influence, wrote—“When Darius saw that he was going to be overcome.”This change has made an English sentence lighter and more easy to understand, for the reader or hearer is not kept waiting for the verb; but each word comes just when it is expected, and therefore in its “natural” place. The Old English sentence—which is very like the German sentence of the present day—has been compared to a heavy cart without springs, while the newer English sentence is like a modern well-hung English carriage. Norman-French, then, gave us a brighter, lighter, freer rhythm, and therefore a sentence more easy to understand and to employ, more supple, and better adapted to everyday use.12.The Expulsion of Gutturals.—(i) Not only did the Normans help us to an easier and pleasanter kind of sentence, they aided us in getting rid of the numerous throat-sounds that infested our language. It is a remarkable fact that there is not now in the French language a single guttural. There is not anhin the whole language. The Frenchwriteanhin several of their words, but they never sound it. Its use is merely to serve as a fence between two vowels—to keep two vowels separate, as inla haine, hatred. No doubt the Normans could utter throat-sounds well enough when they dwelt in Scandinavia; but, after they had lived in France for several generations, they acquired a great dislike to all such sounds. No doubt, too, many, from long disuse, were unable to give utterance to a guttural. This dislike they communicated to the English; and hence, in the present day, there are many people—especially in the south of England—who cannot sound a guttural at all. The muscles in the throat that help to produce these sounds have become atrophied—have lost their power for want of practice. The purely English part of the population, for many centuries after the Norman invasion, could sound gutturals quite easily—just as the Scotchand the Germans do now; but it gradually became the fashion in England to leave them out.13.The Expulsion of Gutturals.—(ii) In some cases the guttural disappeared entirely; in others, it was changed into or represented by other sounds. Thegeat the beginning of the passive (or past) participles of many verbs disappeared entirely. Thusgebróht,gebóht,geworht, becamebrought,bought, andwrought. Thegat the beginning of many words also dropped off. ThusGyppenswichbecameIpswich;gifbecameif;genoh,enough.—The guttural at the end of words—hardgorc—also disappeared. Thushaligbecameholy;eordhlic,earthly;gastlic,ghastlyorghostly. The same is the case indough,through,plough, etc.—the guttural appearing to the eye but not to the ear.—Again, the guttural was changed into quite different sounds—into labials, into sibilants, into other sounds also. The following are a few examples:—(a) The guttural has been softened, through Norman-French influence, into asibilant. Thusrigg,egg, andbrigghave becomeridge,edge, andbridge.(b) The guttural has become alabial—f—as incough,enough,trough,laugh,draught, etc.(c) The guttural has become an additional syllable, and is represented by avowel-sound. Thussorgandmearhhave becomesorrowandmarrow.(d) In some words it has disappeared both to eye and ear. Thusmakëdhas becomemade.14.The Story of the GH.—How is it, then, that we have in so many words the two strongest gutturals in the language—gandh—not only separately, in so many of our words, but combined? The story is an odd one. Our Old English or Saxon scribes wrote—notlight,might, andnight, butliht,miht, andniht. When, however, they found that the Norman-French gentlemen would not sound theh, and say—as is still said in Scotland—licht, &c., they redoubled the guttural, strengthened thehwith a hardg, and again presented the dose to the Norman. But, if the Norman could not sound thehalone, still less could he sound the double guttural; and he very coolly let both alone—ignored both. The Saxon scribe doubled the signs for his guttural, just as a farmer might put up a strong wooden fence in front of a hedge; but the Norman cleared both with perfect ease and indifference. And so it came to pass that we have the symbolghin more than seventy of our words, and that in most of these we do not sound it at all. Theghremains in our language, like a moss-grown boulder, brought down into the fertile valley in a glacial period, when gutturals were both spoken and written, and men believed in the truthfulness of letters—but now passed by in silence and noticed by no one.15.The Letters that represent Gutturals.—The English guttural has been quite Protean in the written or printed forms it takes. It appears as ani, as ay, as aw, as ach, as adge, as aj, and—in its more native forms—as ag, ak, or agh. The following words give all these forms: hail, day, fowl, teach, edge, ajar, drag, truck, and trough. Nowhailwashagol,daywasdaeg,fowlwasfugol,teachwastaecan,edgewasegg,ajarwasachar. Inseek,beseech,sought—which are all different forms of the same word—we see the guttural appearing in three different forms—as a hardk, as a softch, as an unnoticedgh. Inthinkandthought,drinkanddraught,slyandsleight,dryanddrought,slayandslaughter, it takes two different forms. Indig,ditch, anddike—which are all the same word in different shapes—it again takes three forms. Infly,flew, andflight, it appears as ay, aw, and agh. But, indeed, the manners of a guttural, its ways of appearing and disappearing, are almost beyond counting.16.Grammatical Result of the Loss of Inflexions.—When we look at a Latin or French or German word, we know whether it is a verb or a noun or a preposition by its mere appearance—by its face or by its dress, so to speak. But the loss of inflexions which has taken place in the English language has resulted in depriving us of this advantage—if advantage it is. Instead oflookingat thefaceof a word in English, we are obliged tothinkof itsfunction,—that is, of what it does. We have, for example, a large number of words that are both nouns and verbs—we may use them as the one or as the other; and,till we have used them, we cannot tell whether they are the one or the other. Thus, when we speak of “acuton the finger,”cutis anoun, because it is a name; but when we say, “Harry cut his finger,” thencutis averb, because it tells something about Harry. Words likebud,cane,cut,comb,cap,dust,fall,fish,heap,mind,name,pen,plaster,punt,run,rush,stone, and many others, can be used either asnounsor asverbs. Again,fast,quick, andhardmay be used either asadverbsor asadjectives; andbackmay be employed as anadverb, as anoun, and even as anadjective. Shakespeare is very daring in the use of this licence. He makes one of his characters say, “But me no buts!” In this sentence, the firstbutis averbin the imperative mood; the second is anounin the objective case. Shakespeare uses also such verbs asto glad,to mad, such phrases asa seldom pleasure, andthe fairest she. Dr Abbott says, “In Elizabethan English, almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. An adverb can be used as a verb, ‘theyaskancetheir eyes’; as a noun, ‘thebackwardand abysm of time’; or as an adjective, ‘a seldom pleasure.’ Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active verb. You can ‘happy’ your friend, ‘malice’ or ‘fool’ your enemy, or ‘fall’ an axe upon his neck.” Even in modern English, almost any noun can be used as a verb. Thus we can say, “topapera room”; “towaterthe horses”; “toblack-balla candidate”; to “irona shirt” or “a prisoner”; “totoethe line.” On the other hand, verbs may be used as nouns; for we can speak of awork, of a beautifulprint, of a longwalk, and so on.CHAPTER IV.SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH OF DIFFERENT PERIODS.1.Vocabulary and Grammar.—The oldest English or Anglo-Saxon differs from modern English both in vocabulary and in grammar—in the words it uses and in the inflexions it employs. The difference is often startling. And yet, if we look closely at the words and their dress, we shall most often find that the words which look so strange are the very words with which we are most familiar—words that we are in the habit of using every day; and that it is their dress alone that is strange and antiquated. The effect is the same as if we were to dress a modern man in the clothes worn a thousand years ago: the chances are that we should not be able to recognise even our dearest friend.2.A Specimen from Anglo-Saxon.—Let us take as an example a verse from the Anglo-Saxon version of one of the Gospels. The well-known verse, Luke ii. 40, runs thus in our oldest English version:—Sóþlíce ðaet cild weox, and waes gestrangod, wisdómes full; and Godes gyfu waes on him.Now this looks like an extract from a foreign language; but it is not: it is our own veritable mother-tongue. Every word is pure ordinary English; it is the dress—the spelling and the inflexions—that is quaint and old-fashioned. This will be plain from a literal translation:—Soothly that child waxed, and was strengthened, wisdoms full (= full of wisdom); and God’s gift was on him.3.A Comparison.—This will become plainer if we compare the English of the Gospels as it was written in different periods of our language. The alteration in the meanings of words, the changes in the application of them, the variation in the use of phrases, the falling away of the inflexions—all these things become plain to the eye and to the mind as soon as we thoughtfully compare the different versions. The following are extracts from the Anglo-Saxon version (995), the version of Wycliffe (1389) and of Tyndale (1526), of the passage in Luke ii. 44, 45:—Anglo-Saxon.Wycliffe.Tyndale.Wéndon ðaet he on heora gefére wáere, ðá comon hig ánes daeges faer, and hine sóhton betweox his magas and his cúðan.Forsothe thei gessinge him to be in the felowschipe, camen the wey of á day, and souȝten him among his cosyns and knowen.For they supposed he had bene in the company, they cam a days iorney, and sought hym amonge their kynsfolke and acquayntaunce.Ða hig hyne ne fúndon, hig gewendon to Hierusalem, hine sécende.And thei not fyndinge, wenten aȝen to Jerusalem, sekynge him.And founde hym not, they went backe agayne to Hierusalem, and sought hym.The literal translation of the Anglo-Saxon version is as follows:—(They) weened that he on their companionship were (= was), when came they one day’s faring, and him sought betwixt his relations and his couth (folk = acquaintances).When they him not found, they turned to Jerusalem, him seeking.4.The Lord’s Prayer.—The same plan of comparison may be applied to the different versions of the Lord’s Prayer that have come down to us; and it will be seen from this comparison that the greatest changes have taken place in the grammar, and especially in that part of the grammar which contains the inflexions.THE LORD’S PRAYER.1130.1250.1380.1526.Reign of Stephen.Reign of Henry III.Wycliffe’s Version.Tyndale’s Version.Fader ure, þe art on heofone.Fadir ur, that es in hevene,Our Fadir, that art in hevenys,Our Father which art in heaven;Sy gebletsod name þin,Halud thi nam to nevene;Halewid be thi name;Halowed be thy name;Cume þin rike.Thou do as thi rich rike;Thi kingdom come to;Let thy kingdom come;Si þin wil swa swa on heofone and on eorþan.Thi will on erd be wrought, eek as it is wrought in heven ay.Be thi wil done in erthe, as in hevene.Thy will be fulfilled as well in earth as it is in heven.Breod ure degwamlich geof us to daeg.Ur ilk day brede give us to day.Give to us this day oure breed ovir othirsubstaunce,Geve us this day ur dayly bred,And forgeof us ageltes ura swa swa we forgeofen agiltendum urum.Forgive thou all us dettes urs, als we forgive till ur detturs.And forgive to us ourdettis, as we forgiven to ouredettouris.And forgeve us oure dettes as we forgeve ur detters.And ne led us on costunge.And lede us not intotemptacioun;And ledde us in na fandung.And leade us not into temptation,Ac alys us fram yfele. Swa beo hit.But sculd us fra ivel thing. Amen.Butdelyvereus from yvel. Amen.But delyver us from evyll. For thyne is the kyngdom, and the power, and the glorye, for ever. Amen.It will be observed that Wycliffe’s version contains five Romance terms—substaunce,dettis,dettouris,temptacioun, anddelyvere.5.Oldest English and Early English.—The following is a short passage from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under date 1137: first, in the Anglo-Saxon form; second, in Early English, or—as it has sometimes been called—Broken Saxon;third, in modern English. The breaking-down of the grammar becomes still more strikingly evident from this close juxtaposition.(i)HíswenctonÞáwreccanmenn(ii)Híswenctenthewreccemen(iii)Theyswinked (harassed)thewretchedmen(i)Þaes landesmidcastel-weorcum.(ii)Of-the-landmidcastel-weorces.(iii)Of the landwithcastle-works.(i)ÐaÞácastelaswaerongemacod,(ii)Thathecastleswarenmaked,(iii)Whenthecastlesweremade,(i)Þáfyldonhíhímidyfelummannum.(ii)tháfyldenhihimidyvelemen.(iii)thenfilledtheythemwithevilmen.6.Comparisons of Words and Inflexions.—Let us take a few of the most prominent words in our language, and observe the changes that have fallen upon them since they made their appearance in our island in the fifth century. These changes will be best seen by displaying them in columns:—Anglo-Saxon.Early English.Middle English.Modern English.heom.to heom.to hem.to them.seó.heó.ho, scho.she.sweostrum.to the swestres.to the swistren.to the sisters.geboren.gebore.iboré.born.lufigende.lufigend.lovand.loving.weoxon.woxen.wexide.waxed.7.Conclusions from the above Comparisons.—We can now draw several conclusions from the comparisons we have made of the passages given from different periods of the language. These conclusions relate chiefly to verbs and nouns; and theymay become useful as aKEYto enable us to judge to what period in the history of our language a passage presented to us must belong. If we find such and such marks, the language is Anglo-Saxon; if other marks, it is Early English; and so on.I.—MARKS OF ANGLO-SAXON.II.—MARKS OF EARLY ENGLISH (1100-1250).III.—MARKS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH (1250-1485).Verbs.Verbs.Verbs.Infinitive inan.Pres. part. inende.Past part. withge.3d plural pres. inath.3d plural past inon.Plural of imperatives inath.Infin. inenore.Pres. part. inind.geof past part. turned intoiory.3d plural inen.Infin. withto(theenwas dropped about 1400).Pres. part. ininge.3d plural inen.Imperative ineth.Nouns.Nouns.Nouns.Plurals inan,as, ora.Dative plural inum.Plural ines.Dative plural ines.Plurals ines(separate syllable).Possessives ines(separate syllable).8.The English of the Thirteenth Century.—In this century there was a great breaking-down and stripping-off of inflexions. This is seen in theOrmulumof Orm, a canon of the Order of St Augustine, whose English is nearly as flexionless as that of Chaucer, although about a century and a half before him. Orm has also the peculiarity of always doubling a consonant after a short vowel. Thus, in his introduction, he says:—“Þiss boc iss nemmnedd OrrmulumForr þi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte.”That is, “This book is named Ormulum, for the (reason) that Orm wrought it.” The absence of inflexions is probably due to the fact that the book is written in the East-Midland dialect. But, in a song called “The Story of Genesis and Exodus,” written about 1250, we find a greater number of inflexions. Thus we read:—“Hunger wex in lond Chanaan;And his x sunes Jacob for-ðanSente in to Egypt to bringen coren;He bilefe at hom ðe was gungest boren.”That is, “Hunger waxed (increased) in the land of Canaan; and Jacob for that (reason) sent his ten sons into Egypt to bring corn: he remained at home that was youngest born.”9.The English of the Fourteenth Century.—The four greatest writers of the fourteenth century are—in verse,ChaucerandLanglande; and in prose,MandevilleandWycliffe. The inflexions continue to drop off; and, in Chaucer at least, a larger number of French words appear. Chaucer also writes in an elaborate verse-measure that forms a striking contrast to the homely rhythms of Langlande. Thus, in the “Man of Lawes Tale,” we have the verse:—“O queenës, lyvynge in prosperitée,Duchessës, and ladyës everichone,Haveth som routhe on hir adversitée;An emperourës doughter stant allone;She hath no wight to whom to make hir mone.O blood roial! that stondest in this dredëFer ben thy frendës at thy gretë nedë!”Here, with the exception of the imperative inHaveth som routhe(= have some pity),stant, andben(=are), the grammar of Chaucer is very near the grammar of to-day. How different this is from the simple English of Langlande! He is speaking of the great storm of wind that blew on January 15, 1362:—“Piries and Plomtres weore passchet to þe grounde,In ensaumple to Men þat we scholde do þe bettre,Beches and brode okes weore blowen to þe eorþe.”Here it is the spelling of Langlande’s English that differs most from modern English, and not the grammar.—Much the same may be said of the style of Wycliffe (1324-1384) and of Mandeville (1300-1372). In Wycliffe’s version of the Gospel of Mark, v. 26, he speaks of a woman “that hadde suffride many thingis of ful many lechis (doctors), and spendid alle hir thingis; and no-thing profitide.” Sir John Mandeville’s English keeps many old inflexions and spellings; but is, in other respects, modern enough. Speaking of Mahomet, he says: “And ȝeeschulle understonds that Machamete was born in Arabye, that was first a pore knave that kept cameles, that wenten with marchantes for marchandise.”Knavefor boy, andwentenfor went are the two chief differences—the one in the use of words, the other in grammar—that distinguish this piece of Mandeville’s English from our modern speech.10.The English of the Sixteenth Century.—This, which is also called Tudor-English, differs as regards grammar hardly at all from the English of the nineteenth century. This becomes plain from a passage from one of Latimer’s sermons (1490-1555), “a book which gives a faithful picture of the manners, thoughts, and events of the period.” “My father,” he writes, “was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only he had a farm of three or four pound a year at the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. He had walk for a hundred sheep; and my mother milked thirty kine.” In this passage, it is only the old-fashionedness, homeliness, and quaintness of the English—not its grammar—that makes us feel that it was not written in our own times. When Ridley, the fellow-martyr of Latimer, stood at the stake, he said, “I commit our cause to Almighty God, which shall indifferently judge all.” Here he usedindifferentlyin the sense ofimpartially—that is, in the sense ofmaking no difference between parties; and this is one among a very large number of instances of Latin words, when they had not been long in our language, still retaining the older Latin meaning.11.The English of the Bible(i).—The version of the Bible which we at present use was made in 1611; and we might therefore suppose that it is written in seventeenth-century English. But this is not the case. The translators were commanded by James I. to “follow the Bishops’ Bible”; and the Bishops’ Bible was itself founded on the “Great Bible,” which was published in 1539. But the Great Bible is itself only a revision of Tyndale’s, part of which appeared as early as 1526. When we are reading the Bible, therefore, we are reading English of the sixteenth century, and, to a large extent, of the early part of that century. It is true that successive generations ofprinters have, of their own accord, altered the spelling, and even, to a slight extent, modified the grammar. Thus we havefetchedfor the olderfet,moreformoe,sownforsowen,brittleforbrickle(which gives the connection withbreak),jawsforchaws,sixthforsixt, and so on. But we still find such participles asshinedandunderstanded; and such phrases as “they can skill to hew timber” (1 Kings v. 6), “abjects” forabject persons, “three days agone” forago, the “captivated Hebrews” for “the captive Hebrews,” and others.12.The English of the Bible(ii).—We have, again, old words retained, or used in the older meaning. Thus we find, in Psalm v. 6, the phrase “them that speak leasing,” which reminds us of King Alfred’s expression about “leasum spellum” (lying stories).Trowandweenare often found; the “champaign over against Gilgal” (Deut. xi. 30) means theplain; and a publican in the New Testament is a tax-gatherer, who sent to the Roman Treasury or Publicum the taxes he had collected from the Jews. An “ill-favoured person” is an ill-looking person; and “bravery” (Isa. iii. 18) is used in the sense of finery in dress.—Some of the oldest grammar, too, remains, as in Esther viii. 8, “Write ye, as it liketh you,” where theyouis a dative. Again, in Ezek. xxx. 2, we find “Howl ye, Woe worth the day!” where the imperativeworthgovernsdayin the dative case. This idiom is still found in modern verse, as in the well-known lines in the first canto of the “Lady of the Lake”:—“Woe worth the chase, woe worth the dayThat cost thy life, my gallant grey!”CHAPTER V.MODERN ENGLISH.1.Grammar Fixed.—From the date of 1485—that is, from the beginning of the reign of Henry VII.—the changes in the grammar or constitution of our language are so extremely small, that they are hardly noticeable. Any Englishman of ordinary education can read a book belonging to the latter part of the fifteenth or to the sixteenth century without difficulty. Since that time the grammar of our language has hardly changed at all, though we have altered and enlarged our vocabulary, and have adopted thousands of new words. The introduction of Printing, the Revival of Learning, the Translation of the Bible, the growth and spread of the power to read and write—these and other influences tended to fix the language and to keep it as it is to-day. It is true that we have dropped a few old-fashioned endings, like thenoreninsilvernandgolden; but, so far as form or grammar is concerned, the English of the sixteenth and the English of the nineteenth centuries are substantially the same.2.New Words.—But, while the grammar of English has remained the same, the vocabulary of English has been growing, and growing rapidly, not merely with each century, but with each generation. The discovery of the New World in 1492 gave an impetus to maritime enterprise in England, which it never lost, brought us into connection with the Spaniards, and hence contributed to our language several Spanish words. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Italian literaturewas largely read; Wyatt and Surrey show its influence in their poems; and Italian words began to come in in considerable numbers. Commerce, too, has done much for us in this way; and along with the article imported, we have in general introduced also the name it bore in its own native country. In later times, Science has been making rapid strides—has been bringing to light new discoveries and new inventions almost every week; and along with these new discoveries, the language has been enriched with new names and new terms. Let us look a little more closely at the character of these foreign contributions to the vocabulary of our tongue.3.Spanish Words.—The words we have received from the Spanish language are not numerous, but they are important. In addition to the ill-fated wordarmada, we have the Spanish forMr, which isDon(from Lat.dominus, a lord), with its feminineDuenna. They gave us alsoalligator, which is our English way of writingel lagarto, the lizard. They also presented us with a large number of words that end ino—such asbuffalo,cargo,desperado,guano,indigo,mosquito,mulatto,negro,potato,tornado, and others. The following is a tolerably full list:—Alligator.Armada.Barricade.Battledore.Bravado.Buffalo.Cargo.Cigar.Cochineal.Cork.Creole.Desperado.Don.Duenna.Eldorado.Embargo.Filibuster.Flotilla.Galleon (a ship).Grandee.Grenade.Guerilla.Indigo.Jennet.Matador.Merino.Mosquito.Mulatto.Negro.Octoroon.Quadroon.Renegade.Savannah.Sherry (= Xeres).Tornado.Vanilla.4.Italian Words.—Italian literature has been read and cultivated in England since the time of Chaucer—since the fourteenth century; and the arts and artists of Italy have for many centuries exerted a great deal of influence on those of England. Hence it is that we owe to the Italian language a large number of words. These relate to poetry, such ascanto,sonnet,stanza; to music, aspianoforte,opera,oratorio,soprano,alto,contralto; to architecture and sculpture, asportico,piazza,cupola,torso; and to painting, asstudio,fresco(an open-air painting), and others. The following is a complete list:—Alarm.Alert.Alto.Arcade.Balcony.Balustrade.Bandit.Bankrupt.Bravo.Brigade.Brigand.Broccoli.Burlesque.Bust.Cameo.Canteen.Canto.Caprice.Caricature.Carnival.Cartoon.Cascade.Cavalcade.Charlatan.Citadel.Colonnade.Concert.Contralto.Conversazione.Cornice.Corridor.Cupola.Curvet.Dilettante.Ditto.Doge.Domino.Extravaganza.Fiasco.Folio.Fresco.Gazette.Gondola.Granite.Grotto.Guitar.Incognito.Influenza.Lagoon.Lava.Lazaretto.Macaroni.Madonna.Madrigal.Malaria.Manifesto.Motto.Moustache.Niche.Opera.Oratorio.Palette.Pantaloon.Parapet.Pedant.Pianoforte.Piazza.Pistol.Portico.Proviso.Quarto.Regatta.Ruffian.Serenade.Sonnet.Soprano.Stanza.Stiletto.Stucco.Studio.Tenor.Terra-cotta.Tirade.Torso.Trombone.Umbrella.Vermilion.Vertu.Virtuoso.Vista.Volcano.Zany.5.Dutch Words.—We have had for many centuries commercial dealings with the Dutch; and as they, like ourselves, are a great seafaring people, they have given us a number of words relating to the management of ships. In the fourteenth century, the southern part of the German Ocean was the most frequented sea in the world; and the chances of plunder were so great that ships of war had to keep cruising up and down to protect the trading vessels that sailed between England and the Low Countries. The following are the words which we owe to the Netherlands:—Ballast.Boom.Boor.Burgomaster.Hoy.Luff.Reef.Schiedam (gin).Skates.Skipper.Sloop.Smack.Smuggle.Stiver.Taffrail.Trigger.Wear (said of a ship).Yacht.Yawl.6.French Words.—Besides the large additions to our language made by the Norman-French, we have from time to time imported direct from France a number of French words, without change in the spelling, and with little change in the pronunciation. The French have been for centuries the most polished nation in Europe; from France the changing fashions in dress spread over all the countries of the Continent; French literature has been much read in England since the time of Charles II.; and for a long time all diplomatic correspondence between foreign countries and England was carried on in French. Words relating to manners and customs are common, such assoirée,etiquette,séance,élite; and we have also the names of things which were invented in France, such asmitrailleuse,carte-de-visite,coup d’état, and others. Some of these words are, in spelling, exactly like English; and advantage of this has been taken in a well-known epigram:—The French have taste in all they do,Which we are quite without;For Nature, which to them gave goût,15To us gave only gout.The following is a list of French words which have been imported in comparatively recent times:—Aide-de-camp.Belle.Bivouac.Blonde.Bouquet.Brochure.Brunette.Brusque.Carte-de-visite.Coup-d’état.Débris.Début.Déjeûner.Depot.Éclat.Ennui.Etiquette.Façade.Goût.Naïve.Naïveté.Nonchalance.Outré.Penchant.Personnel.Précis.Programme.Protégé.Recherché.Séance.Soirée.Trousseau.The Scotch have always had a closer connection with the French nation than England; and hence we find in the Scottish dialect of English a number of French words that are not used in South Britain at all. A leg of mutton is called in Scotland agigot; the dish on which it is laid is anashet(fromassiette); a cup for tea or for wine is atassie(fromtasse); the gate of a town iscalled theport; and a stubborn person isdour(Fr.dur, from Lat.durus); while a gentle and amiable person isdouce(Fr.douce, Lat.dulcis).7.German Words.—It must not be forgotten that English is a Low-German dialect, while the German of books is New High-German. We have never borrowed directly from High-German, because we have never needed to borrow. Those modern German words that have come into our language in recent times are chiefly the names of minerals, with a few striking exceptions, such asloafer, which came to us from the German immigrants to the United States, andplunder, which seems to have been brought from Germany by English soldiers who had served under Gustavus Adolphus. The following are the German words which we have received in recent times:—Cobalt.Felspar.Hornblende.Landgrave.Loafer.Margrave.Meerschaum.Nickel.Plunder.Poodle.Quartz.Zinc.8.Hebrew Words.—These, with very few exceptions, have come to us from the translation of the Bible, which is now in use in our homes and churches.Abbotandabbeycome from the Hebrew wordabba, father; and such words ascabalandTalmud, though not found in the Old Testament, have been contributed by Jewish literature. The following is a tolerably complete list:—Abbey.Abbot.Amen.Behemoth.Cabal.Cherub.Cinnamon.Hallelujah.Hosannah.Jehovah.Jubilee.Gehenna.Leviathan.Manna.Paschal.Pharisee.Pharisaical.Rabbi.Sabbath.Sadducees.Satan.Seraph.Shibboleth.Talmud.9.Other Foreign Words.—The English have always been the greatest travellers in the world; and our sailors always the most daring, intelligent, and enterprising. There is hardly a port or a country in the world into which an English ship has not penetrated; and our commerce has now been maintained for centuries with every people on the face of the globe. We exchange goods with almost every nation and tribe under thesun. When we import articles or produce from abroad, we in general import the native name along with the thing. Hence it is that we haveguano,maize, andtomatofrom the two Americas;coffee,cotton, andtamarindfrom Arabia;tea,congou, andnankeenfrom China;calico,chintz, andrupeefrom Hindostan;bamboo,gamboge, andsagofrom the Malay Peninsula;lemon,musk, andorangefrom Persia;boomerangandkangaroofrom Australia;chibouk,ottoman, andtulipfrom Turkey. The following are lists of these foreign words; and they are worth examining with the greatest minuteness:—African Dialects.Baobab.Canary.Chimpanzee.Gnu.Gorilla.Guinea.Karoo.Kraal.Oasis.Quagga.Zebra.American Tongues.Alpaca.Buccaneer.Cacique.Cannibal.Canoe.Caoutchouc.Cayman.Chocolate.Condor.Guano.Hammock.Jaguar.Jalap.Jerked (beef).Llama.Mahogany.Maize.Manioc.Moccasin.Mustang.Opossum.Pampas.Pemmican.Potato.Racoon.Skunk.Squaw.Tapioca.Tobacco.Tomahawk.Tomato.Wigwam.Arabic.(The wordalmeansthe. Thusalcohol=the spirit.)Admiral (Milton writesammiral).Alcohol.Alcove.Alembic.Algebra.Alkali.Amber.Arrack.Arsenal.Artichoke.Assassin.Assegai.Attar.Azimuth.Azure.Caliph.Carat.Chemistry.Cipher.Civet.Coffee.Cotton.Crimson.Dragoman.Elixir.Emir.Fakir.Felucca.Gazelle.Giraffe.Harem.Hookah.Koran (or Alcoran).Lute.Magazine.Mattress.Minaret.Mohair.Monsoon.Mosque.Mufti.Nabob.Nadir.Naphtha.Saffron.Salaam.Senna.Sherbet.Shrub (the drink).Simoom.Sirocco.Sofa.Sultan.Syrup.Talisman.Tamarind.Tariff.Vizier.Zenith.Zero.Chinese.Bohea.China.Congou.Hyson.Joss.Junk.Nankeen.Pekoe.Silk.Souchong.Tea.Typhoon.Hindu.Avatar.Banyan.Brahmin.Bungalow.Calico.Chintz.Coolie.Cowrie.Durbar.Jungle.Lac (of rupees).Loot.Mulligatawny.Musk.Pagoda.Palanquin.Pariah.Punch.Pundit.Rajah.Rupee.Ryot.Sepoy.Shampoo.Sugar.Suttee.Thug.Toddy.Hungarian.Hussar.Sabre.Shako.Tokay.Malay.Amuck.Bamboo.Bantam.Caddy.Cassowary.Cockatoo.Dugong.Gamboge.Gong.Gutta-percha.Mandarin.Mango.Orang-outang.Rattan.Sago.Upas.Persian.Awning.Bazaar.Bashaw.Caravan.Check.Checkmate.Chess.Curry.Dervish.Divan.Firman.Hazard.Horde.Houri.Jar.Jackal.Jasmine.Lac (a gum).Lemon.Lilac.Lime (the fruit).Musk.Orange.Paradise.Pasha.Rook.Saraband.Sash.Scimitar.Shawl.Taffeta.Turban.Polynesian Dialects.Boomerang.Kangaroo.Taboo.Tattoo.Portuguese.Albatross.Caste.Cobra.Cocoa-nut.Commodore.Fetish.Lasso.Marmalade.Moidore.Molasses.Palaver.Port (= Oporto).Russian.Czar.Drosky.Knout.Morse.Rouble.Steppe.Ukase.Verst.Tartar.Khan.Turkish.Bey.Caftan.Chibouk.Chouse.Dey.Janissary.Kiosk.Odalisque.Ottoman.Tulip.Yashmak.Yataghan.10.Scientific Terms.—A very large number of discoveries in science have been made in this century; and a large number of inventions have introduced these discoveries to the people, and made them useful in daily life. Thus we havetelegraphandtelegram;photograph;telephoneand evenphotophone.The worddynamiteis also modern; and the unhappy employment of it has made it too widely known. Then passing fashions have given us such words asathleteandæsthete. In general, it may be said that, when we wish to give a name to a new thing—a new discovery, invention, or fashion—we have recourse not to our own stores of English, but to the vocabularies of the Latin and Greek languages.LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF THEENGLISH LANGUAGE.A.D.1.The Beowulf, an old English epic, “written on the mainland”4502.Christianityintroduced by St Augustine (and with it many Latin and a few Greek words)5973.Caedmon—‘Paraphrase of the Scriptures,’—first English poem6704.Baeda—“The Venerable Bede”—translated into English part of St John’s Gospel7355.King Alfredtranslated several Latin works into English, among others, Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation’(851)9016.Aelfric, Archbishop of York, turned into English most of the historical books of the Old Testament10007.The Norman Conquest, which introduced Norman French words10668.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, said to have been begun by King Alfred, and brought to a close in11609.OrmorOrrmin’s Ormulum, a poem written in the East Midland dialect, about120010.Normandylost under King John. Norman-English now have their only home in England, and use our English speech more and more120411.Layamontranslates the ‘Brut’ from the French of Robert Wace. This is the first English book (written inSouthern English) after the stoppage of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle120512.The Ancren Riwle(“Rules for Anchorites”) written in the Dorsetshire dialect. “It is the forerunner of a wondrous change in our speech.” “It swarms with French words”122013.First Royal Proclamation in English, issued by Henry III.125814.Robert of Gloucester’sChronicle (swarms with foreign terms)130015.Robert Manning, “Robert of Brunn,” compiles the ‘Handlyng Synne.’ “It contains a most copious proportion of French words”130316.Ayenbite of Inwit(= “Remorse of Conscience”)134017.The Great Plague. After this it becomes less and less the fashion to speak French134918.Sir John Mandeville, first writer of the newer English Prose—in his ‘Travels,’ which contained a large admixture of French words. “His English is the speech spoken at Court in the latter days of King Edward III.”135619.Englishbecomes the language of the Law Courts136220.Wickliffe’sBible138021.Geoffrey Chaucer, the first great English poet, author of the ‘Canterbury Tales’; born in 1340, died140022.William Caxton, the first English printer, brings out (in the Low Countries) the first English book ever printed, the ‘Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,’—“not written with pen and ink, as other books are, to the end that every man may have them at once”147123.First English Bookprinted in England (by Caxton) the ‘Game and Playe of the Chesse’147424.Lord Berners’translation of Froissart’s Chronicle152325.William Tyndale, by his translation of the Bible “fixed our tongue once for all.” “His New Testament has become the standard of our tongue: the first ten verses of the Fourth Gospel are a good sample of his manly Teutonic pith”1526-3026.Edmund Spenserpublishes his ‘Faerie Queene.’ “Now began the golden age of England’s literature; and this age was to last for about fourscore years”159027.Our English Bible, based chiefly on Tyndale’s translation. “Those who revised the English Bible in 1611 were bidden to keep as near as they could to the old versions, such as Tyndale’s”161128.William Shakespearecarried the use of the English language to the greatest height of which it was capable. He employed 15,000 words. “The last act of ‘Othello’ is a rare specimen of Shakespeare’s diction: of every five nouns, verbs, and adverbs, four are Teutonic”(Born 1564)161629.John Milton, “the most learned of English poets,” publishes his ‘Paradise Lost,’—“a poem in which Latin words are introduced with great skill”166730.The Prayer-Bookrevised and issued in its final form. “Arewas substituted forbein forty-three places. This was a great victory of the North over the South”166131.John Bunyanwrites his ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’—a book full of pithy English idiom. “The common folk had the wit at once to see the worth of Bunyan’s masterpiece, and the learned long afterwards followed in the wake of the common folk”(Born 1628)168832.Sir Thomas Browne, the author of ‘Urn-Burial’ and other works written in a highly Latinised diction, such as the ‘Religio Medici,’ written164233.Dr Samuel Johnsonwas the chief supporter of the use of “long-tailed words in osity and ation,” such as his novel called ‘Rasselas,’ published175934.Tennyson, Poet-Laureate, a writer of the best English—“a countryman of Robert Manning’s, and a careful student of old Malory, has done much for the revival of pure English among us”(Born 1809)PARTIV.OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OFENGLISH LITERATURECHAPTER I.OUR OLDEST ENGLISH LITERATURE.1.Literature.—The history of English Literature is, in its external aspect, an account of the best books in prose and in verse that have been written by English men and English women; and this account begins with a poem brought over from the Continent by our countrymen in the fifth century, and comes down to the time in which we live. It covers, therefore, a period of nearly fourteen hundred years.2.The Distribution of Literature.—We must not suppose that literature has always existed in the form of printed books. Literature is a living thing—a living outcome of the living mind; and there are many ways in which it has been distributed to other human beings. The oldest way is, of course, by one person repeating a poem or other literary composition he has made to another; and thus literature is stored away, not upon book-shelves, but in the memory of living men. Homer’s poems are said to have been preserved in this way to the Greeks for five hundred years. Father chanted them to son; the sons to their sons; and so on from generation to generation. The next way of distributing literature is by the aid of signs called letters made upon leaves, flattened reeds, parchment, or the inner bark of trees. The next is by the help of writing upon paper. The last is by the aid of type upon paper. This has existed in England for more than four hundred years—since the year 1474; and thus it is that our libraries contain many hundreds of thousands of valuable books.For the same reason is it, most probably, that as our power of retaining the substance and multiplying the copies of books has grown stronger, our living memories have grown weaker. This defect can be remedied only by education—that is, by training the memories of the young. While we possess so many printed books, it must not be forgotten that many valuable works exist still in manuscript—written either upon paper or on parchment.3.Verse, the earliest form of Literature.—It is a remarkable fact that the earliest kind of composition in all languages is in the form ofVerse. The oldest books, too, are those which are written in verse. Thus Homer’s poems are the oldest literary work of Greece; the Sagas are the oldest productions of Scandinavian literature; and the Beowulf is the oldest piece of literature produced by the Anglo-Saxon race. It is also from the strong creative power and the lively inventions of poets that we are even now supplied with new thoughts and new language—that the most vivid words and phrases come into the language; just as it is the ranges of high mountains that send down to the plains the ever fresh soil that gives to them their unending fertility. And thus it happens that our present English speech is full of words and phrases that have found their way into the most ordinary conversation from the writings of our great poets—and especially from the writings of our greatest poet, Shakespeare. The fact that the life of prose depends for its supplies on the creative minds of poets has been well expressed by an American writer:—
“Let the long contention cease;Geese are swans, and swans are geese;Let them have it how they will,Thou art tired. Best be still!”
“Let the long contention cease;
Geese are swans, and swans are geese;
Let them have it how they will,
Thou art tired. Best be still!”
In Tennyson’s “Lord of Burleigh,” when the sorrowful husband comes to look upon his dead wife, the verse runs almost entirely in monosyllables:—
“And he came to look upon her,And he looked at her, and said:‘Bring the dress, and put it on her,That she wore when she was wed.’”
“And he came to look upon her,
And he looked at her, and said:
‘Bring the dress, and put it on her,
That she wore when she was wed.’”
An American writer has well indicated the force of the English monosyllable in the following sonnet:—
“Think not that strength lies in the big,roundword,Or that thebriefandplainmust needs be weak.To whom can this be true who once has heardThe cry for help, the tongue that all men speak,When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat,So that each word gasped out is like a shriekPressedfrom the sore heart, or astrange, wildnoteSung by somefayor fiend! There is a strength,Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine,Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length;Let but thisforceof thought and speech be mine,And he that will may take the sleek fatphrase,Which glows but burns not, though it beam and shine;Light, but no heat,—a flash, but not a blaze.”
“Think not that strength lies in the big,roundword,
Or that thebriefandplainmust needs be weak.
To whom can this be true who once has heard
The cry for help, the tongue that all men speak,
When want, or fear, or woe, is in the throat,
So that each word gasped out is like a shriek
Pressedfrom the sore heart, or astrange, wildnote
Sung by somefayor fiend! There is a strength,
Which dies if stretched too far, or spun too fine,
Which has more height than breadth, more depth than length;
Let but thisforceof thought and speech be mine,
And he that will may take the sleek fatphrase,
Which glows but burns not, though it beam and shine;
Light, but no heat,—a flash, but not a blaze.”
It will be observed that this sonnet consists entirely of monosyllables, and yet that the style of it shows considerable power and vigour. The words printed in italics are all derived from Latin, with the exception of the wordphrase, which is Greek.
11.Change in the Order of Words.—The syntax—or order of words—of the oldest English was very different from that of Norman-French. The syntax of an Old English sentence was clumsy and involved; it kept the attention long on the strain; it was rumbling, rambling, and unpleasant to the ear. It kept the attention on the strain, because the verb in a subordinate clause was held back, and not revealed till we had come to theend of the clause. Thus the Anglo-Saxon wrote (though in different form and spelling)—
“When Darius saw, that he overcome be would.”
The newer English, under French influence, wrote—
“When Darius saw that he was going to be overcome.”
This change has made an English sentence lighter and more easy to understand, for the reader or hearer is not kept waiting for the verb; but each word comes just when it is expected, and therefore in its “natural” place. The Old English sentence—which is very like the German sentence of the present day—has been compared to a heavy cart without springs, while the newer English sentence is like a modern well-hung English carriage. Norman-French, then, gave us a brighter, lighter, freer rhythm, and therefore a sentence more easy to understand and to employ, more supple, and better adapted to everyday use.
12.The Expulsion of Gutturals.—(i) Not only did the Normans help us to an easier and pleasanter kind of sentence, they aided us in getting rid of the numerous throat-sounds that infested our language. It is a remarkable fact that there is not now in the French language a single guttural. There is not anhin the whole language. The Frenchwriteanhin several of their words, but they never sound it. Its use is merely to serve as a fence between two vowels—to keep two vowels separate, as inla haine, hatred. No doubt the Normans could utter throat-sounds well enough when they dwelt in Scandinavia; but, after they had lived in France for several generations, they acquired a great dislike to all such sounds. No doubt, too, many, from long disuse, were unable to give utterance to a guttural. This dislike they communicated to the English; and hence, in the present day, there are many people—especially in the south of England—who cannot sound a guttural at all. The muscles in the throat that help to produce these sounds have become atrophied—have lost their power for want of practice. The purely English part of the population, for many centuries after the Norman invasion, could sound gutturals quite easily—just as the Scotchand the Germans do now; but it gradually became the fashion in England to leave them out.
13.The Expulsion of Gutturals.—(ii) In some cases the guttural disappeared entirely; in others, it was changed into or represented by other sounds. Thegeat the beginning of the passive (or past) participles of many verbs disappeared entirely. Thusgebróht,gebóht,geworht, becamebrought,bought, andwrought. Thegat the beginning of many words also dropped off. ThusGyppenswichbecameIpswich;gifbecameif;genoh,enough.—The guttural at the end of words—hardgorc—also disappeared. Thushaligbecameholy;eordhlic,earthly;gastlic,ghastlyorghostly. The same is the case indough,through,plough, etc.—the guttural appearing to the eye but not to the ear.—Again, the guttural was changed into quite different sounds—into labials, into sibilants, into other sounds also. The following are a few examples:—
(a) The guttural has been softened, through Norman-French influence, into asibilant. Thusrigg,egg, andbrigghave becomeridge,edge, andbridge.
(b) The guttural has become alabial—f—as incough,enough,trough,laugh,draught, etc.
(c) The guttural has become an additional syllable, and is represented by avowel-sound. Thussorgandmearhhave becomesorrowandmarrow.
(d) In some words it has disappeared both to eye and ear. Thusmakëdhas becomemade.
14.The Story of the GH.—How is it, then, that we have in so many words the two strongest gutturals in the language—gandh—not only separately, in so many of our words, but combined? The story is an odd one. Our Old English or Saxon scribes wrote—notlight,might, andnight, butliht,miht, andniht. When, however, they found that the Norman-French gentlemen would not sound theh, and say—as is still said in Scotland—licht, &c., they redoubled the guttural, strengthened thehwith a hardg, and again presented the dose to the Norman. But, if the Norman could not sound thehalone, still less could he sound the double guttural; and he very coolly let both alone—ignored both. The Saxon scribe doubled the signs for his guttural, just as a farmer might put up a strong wooden fence in front of a hedge; but the Norman cleared both with perfect ease and indifference. And so it came to pass that we have the symbolghin more than seventy of our words, and that in most of these we do not sound it at all. Theghremains in our language, like a moss-grown boulder, brought down into the fertile valley in a glacial period, when gutturals were both spoken and written, and men believed in the truthfulness of letters—but now passed by in silence and noticed by no one.
15.The Letters that represent Gutturals.—The English guttural has been quite Protean in the written or printed forms it takes. It appears as ani, as ay, as aw, as ach, as adge, as aj, and—in its more native forms—as ag, ak, or agh. The following words give all these forms: hail, day, fowl, teach, edge, ajar, drag, truck, and trough. Nowhailwashagol,daywasdaeg,fowlwasfugol,teachwastaecan,edgewasegg,ajarwasachar. Inseek,beseech,sought—which are all different forms of the same word—we see the guttural appearing in three different forms—as a hardk, as a softch, as an unnoticedgh. Inthinkandthought,drinkanddraught,slyandsleight,dryanddrought,slayandslaughter, it takes two different forms. Indig,ditch, anddike—which are all the same word in different shapes—it again takes three forms. Infly,flew, andflight, it appears as ay, aw, and agh. But, indeed, the manners of a guttural, its ways of appearing and disappearing, are almost beyond counting.
16.Grammatical Result of the Loss of Inflexions.—When we look at a Latin or French or German word, we know whether it is a verb or a noun or a preposition by its mere appearance—by its face or by its dress, so to speak. But the loss of inflexions which has taken place in the English language has resulted in depriving us of this advantage—if advantage it is. Instead oflookingat thefaceof a word in English, we are obliged tothinkof itsfunction,—that is, of what it does. We have, for example, a large number of words that are both nouns and verbs—we may use them as the one or as the other; and,till we have used them, we cannot tell whether they are the one or the other. Thus, when we speak of “acuton the finger,”cutis anoun, because it is a name; but when we say, “Harry cut his finger,” thencutis averb, because it tells something about Harry. Words likebud,cane,cut,comb,cap,dust,fall,fish,heap,mind,name,pen,plaster,punt,run,rush,stone, and many others, can be used either asnounsor asverbs. Again,fast,quick, andhardmay be used either asadverbsor asadjectives; andbackmay be employed as anadverb, as anoun, and even as anadjective. Shakespeare is very daring in the use of this licence. He makes one of his characters say, “But me no buts!” In this sentence, the firstbutis averbin the imperative mood; the second is anounin the objective case. Shakespeare uses also such verbs asto glad,to mad, such phrases asa seldom pleasure, andthe fairest she. Dr Abbott says, “In Elizabethan English, almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. An adverb can be used as a verb, ‘theyaskancetheir eyes’; as a noun, ‘thebackwardand abysm of time’; or as an adjective, ‘a seldom pleasure.’ Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active verb. You can ‘happy’ your friend, ‘malice’ or ‘fool’ your enemy, or ‘fall’ an axe upon his neck.” Even in modern English, almost any noun can be used as a verb. Thus we can say, “topapera room”; “towaterthe horses”; “toblack-balla candidate”; to “irona shirt” or “a prisoner”; “totoethe line.” On the other hand, verbs may be used as nouns; for we can speak of awork, of a beautifulprint, of a longwalk, and so on.
1.Vocabulary and Grammar.—The oldest English or Anglo-Saxon differs from modern English both in vocabulary and in grammar—in the words it uses and in the inflexions it employs. The difference is often startling. And yet, if we look closely at the words and their dress, we shall most often find that the words which look so strange are the very words with which we are most familiar—words that we are in the habit of using every day; and that it is their dress alone that is strange and antiquated. The effect is the same as if we were to dress a modern man in the clothes worn a thousand years ago: the chances are that we should not be able to recognise even our dearest friend.
2.A Specimen from Anglo-Saxon.—Let us take as an example a verse from the Anglo-Saxon version of one of the Gospels. The well-known verse, Luke ii. 40, runs thus in our oldest English version:—
Sóþlíce ðaet cild weox, and waes gestrangod, wisdómes full; and Godes gyfu waes on him.
Now this looks like an extract from a foreign language; but it is not: it is our own veritable mother-tongue. Every word is pure ordinary English; it is the dress—the spelling and the inflexions—that is quaint and old-fashioned. This will be plain from a literal translation:—
Soothly that child waxed, and was strengthened, wisdoms full (= full of wisdom); and God’s gift was on him.
3.A Comparison.—This will become plainer if we compare the English of the Gospels as it was written in different periods of our language. The alteration in the meanings of words, the changes in the application of them, the variation in the use of phrases, the falling away of the inflexions—all these things become plain to the eye and to the mind as soon as we thoughtfully compare the different versions. The following are extracts from the Anglo-Saxon version (995), the version of Wycliffe (1389) and of Tyndale (1526), of the passage in Luke ii. 44, 45:—
The literal translation of the Anglo-Saxon version is as follows:—
(They) weened that he on their companionship were (= was), when came they one day’s faring, and him sought betwixt his relations and his couth (folk = acquaintances).
When they him not found, they turned to Jerusalem, him seeking.
4.The Lord’s Prayer.—The same plan of comparison may be applied to the different versions of the Lord’s Prayer that have come down to us; and it will be seen from this comparison that the greatest changes have taken place in the grammar, and especially in that part of the grammar which contains the inflexions.
It will be observed that Wycliffe’s version contains five Romance terms—substaunce,dettis,dettouris,temptacioun, anddelyvere.
5.Oldest English and Early English.—The following is a short passage from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under date 1137: first, in the Anglo-Saxon form; second, in Early English, or—as it has sometimes been called—Broken Saxon;third, in modern English. The breaking-down of the grammar becomes still more strikingly evident from this close juxtaposition.
6.Comparisons of Words and Inflexions.—Let us take a few of the most prominent words in our language, and observe the changes that have fallen upon them since they made their appearance in our island in the fifth century. These changes will be best seen by displaying them in columns:—
7.Conclusions from the above Comparisons.—We can now draw several conclusions from the comparisons we have made of the passages given from different periods of the language. These conclusions relate chiefly to verbs and nouns; and theymay become useful as aKEYto enable us to judge to what period in the history of our language a passage presented to us must belong. If we find such and such marks, the language is Anglo-Saxon; if other marks, it is Early English; and so on.
Infinitive inan.
Pres. part. inende.
Past part. withge.
3d plural pres. inath.
3d plural past inon.
Plural of imperatives inath.
Infin. inenore.
Pres. part. inind.
geof past part. turned intoiory.
3d plural inen.
Infin. withto(theenwas dropped about 1400).
Pres. part. ininge.
3d plural inen.
Imperative ineth.
Plurals inan,as, ora.
Dative plural inum.
Plural ines.
Dative plural ines.
Plurals ines(separate syllable).
Possessives ines(separate syllable).
8.The English of the Thirteenth Century.—In this century there was a great breaking-down and stripping-off of inflexions. This is seen in theOrmulumof Orm, a canon of the Order of St Augustine, whose English is nearly as flexionless as that of Chaucer, although about a century and a half before him. Orm has also the peculiarity of always doubling a consonant after a short vowel. Thus, in his introduction, he says:—
“Þiss boc iss nemmnedd OrrmulumForr þi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte.”
“Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum
Forr þi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte.”
That is, “This book is named Ormulum, for the (reason) that Orm wrought it.” The absence of inflexions is probably due to the fact that the book is written in the East-Midland dialect. But, in a song called “The Story of Genesis and Exodus,” written about 1250, we find a greater number of inflexions. Thus we read:—
“Hunger wex in lond Chanaan;And his x sunes Jacob for-ðanSente in to Egypt to bringen coren;He bilefe at hom ðe was gungest boren.”
“Hunger wex in lond Chanaan;
And his x sunes Jacob for-ðan
Sente in to Egypt to bringen coren;
He bilefe at hom ðe was gungest boren.”
That is, “Hunger waxed (increased) in the land of Canaan; and Jacob for that (reason) sent his ten sons into Egypt to bring corn: he remained at home that was youngest born.”
9.The English of the Fourteenth Century.—The four greatest writers of the fourteenth century are—in verse,ChaucerandLanglande; and in prose,MandevilleandWycliffe. The inflexions continue to drop off; and, in Chaucer at least, a larger number of French words appear. Chaucer also writes in an elaborate verse-measure that forms a striking contrast to the homely rhythms of Langlande. Thus, in the “Man of Lawes Tale,” we have the verse:—
“O queenës, lyvynge in prosperitée,Duchessës, and ladyës everichone,Haveth som routhe on hir adversitée;An emperourës doughter stant allone;She hath no wight to whom to make hir mone.O blood roial! that stondest in this dredëFer ben thy frendës at thy gretë nedë!”
“O queenës, lyvynge in prosperitée,
Duchessës, and ladyës everichone,
Haveth som routhe on hir adversitée;
An emperourës doughter stant allone;
She hath no wight to whom to make hir mone.
O blood roial! that stondest in this dredë
Fer ben thy frendës at thy gretë nedë!”
Here, with the exception of the imperative inHaveth som routhe(= have some pity),stant, andben(=are), the grammar of Chaucer is very near the grammar of to-day. How different this is from the simple English of Langlande! He is speaking of the great storm of wind that blew on January 15, 1362:—
“Piries and Plomtres weore passchet to þe grounde,In ensaumple to Men þat we scholde do þe bettre,Beches and brode okes weore blowen to þe eorþe.”
“Piries and Plomtres weore passchet to þe grounde,
In ensaumple to Men þat we scholde do þe bettre,
Beches and brode okes weore blowen to þe eorþe.”
Here it is the spelling of Langlande’s English that differs most from modern English, and not the grammar.—Much the same may be said of the style of Wycliffe (1324-1384) and of Mandeville (1300-1372). In Wycliffe’s version of the Gospel of Mark, v. 26, he speaks of a woman “that hadde suffride many thingis of ful many lechis (doctors), and spendid alle hir thingis; and no-thing profitide.” Sir John Mandeville’s English keeps many old inflexions and spellings; but is, in other respects, modern enough. Speaking of Mahomet, he says: “And ȝeeschulle understonds that Machamete was born in Arabye, that was first a pore knave that kept cameles, that wenten with marchantes for marchandise.”Knavefor boy, andwentenfor went are the two chief differences—the one in the use of words, the other in grammar—that distinguish this piece of Mandeville’s English from our modern speech.
10.The English of the Sixteenth Century.—This, which is also called Tudor-English, differs as regards grammar hardly at all from the English of the nineteenth century. This becomes plain from a passage from one of Latimer’s sermons (1490-1555), “a book which gives a faithful picture of the manners, thoughts, and events of the period.” “My father,” he writes, “was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own, only he had a farm of three or four pound a year at the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. He had walk for a hundred sheep; and my mother milked thirty kine.” In this passage, it is only the old-fashionedness, homeliness, and quaintness of the English—not its grammar—that makes us feel that it was not written in our own times. When Ridley, the fellow-martyr of Latimer, stood at the stake, he said, “I commit our cause to Almighty God, which shall indifferently judge all.” Here he usedindifferentlyin the sense ofimpartially—that is, in the sense ofmaking no difference between parties; and this is one among a very large number of instances of Latin words, when they had not been long in our language, still retaining the older Latin meaning.
11.The English of the Bible(i).—The version of the Bible which we at present use was made in 1611; and we might therefore suppose that it is written in seventeenth-century English. But this is not the case. The translators were commanded by James I. to “follow the Bishops’ Bible”; and the Bishops’ Bible was itself founded on the “Great Bible,” which was published in 1539. But the Great Bible is itself only a revision of Tyndale’s, part of which appeared as early as 1526. When we are reading the Bible, therefore, we are reading English of the sixteenth century, and, to a large extent, of the early part of that century. It is true that successive generations ofprinters have, of their own accord, altered the spelling, and even, to a slight extent, modified the grammar. Thus we havefetchedfor the olderfet,moreformoe,sownforsowen,brittleforbrickle(which gives the connection withbreak),jawsforchaws,sixthforsixt, and so on. But we still find such participles asshinedandunderstanded; and such phrases as “they can skill to hew timber” (1 Kings v. 6), “abjects” forabject persons, “three days agone” forago, the “captivated Hebrews” for “the captive Hebrews,” and others.
12.The English of the Bible(ii).—We have, again, old words retained, or used in the older meaning. Thus we find, in Psalm v. 6, the phrase “them that speak leasing,” which reminds us of King Alfred’s expression about “leasum spellum” (lying stories).Trowandweenare often found; the “champaign over against Gilgal” (Deut. xi. 30) means theplain; and a publican in the New Testament is a tax-gatherer, who sent to the Roman Treasury or Publicum the taxes he had collected from the Jews. An “ill-favoured person” is an ill-looking person; and “bravery” (Isa. iii. 18) is used in the sense of finery in dress.—Some of the oldest grammar, too, remains, as in Esther viii. 8, “Write ye, as it liketh you,” where theyouis a dative. Again, in Ezek. xxx. 2, we find “Howl ye, Woe worth the day!” where the imperativeworthgovernsdayin the dative case. This idiom is still found in modern verse, as in the well-known lines in the first canto of the “Lady of the Lake”:—
“Woe worth the chase, woe worth the dayThat cost thy life, my gallant grey!”
“Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day
That cost thy life, my gallant grey!”
1.Grammar Fixed.—From the date of 1485—that is, from the beginning of the reign of Henry VII.—the changes in the grammar or constitution of our language are so extremely small, that they are hardly noticeable. Any Englishman of ordinary education can read a book belonging to the latter part of the fifteenth or to the sixteenth century without difficulty. Since that time the grammar of our language has hardly changed at all, though we have altered and enlarged our vocabulary, and have adopted thousands of new words. The introduction of Printing, the Revival of Learning, the Translation of the Bible, the growth and spread of the power to read and write—these and other influences tended to fix the language and to keep it as it is to-day. It is true that we have dropped a few old-fashioned endings, like thenoreninsilvernandgolden; but, so far as form or grammar is concerned, the English of the sixteenth and the English of the nineteenth centuries are substantially the same.
2.New Words.—But, while the grammar of English has remained the same, the vocabulary of English has been growing, and growing rapidly, not merely with each century, but with each generation. The discovery of the New World in 1492 gave an impetus to maritime enterprise in England, which it never lost, brought us into connection with the Spaniards, and hence contributed to our language several Spanish words. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Italian literaturewas largely read; Wyatt and Surrey show its influence in their poems; and Italian words began to come in in considerable numbers. Commerce, too, has done much for us in this way; and along with the article imported, we have in general introduced also the name it bore in its own native country. In later times, Science has been making rapid strides—has been bringing to light new discoveries and new inventions almost every week; and along with these new discoveries, the language has been enriched with new names and new terms. Let us look a little more closely at the character of these foreign contributions to the vocabulary of our tongue.
3.Spanish Words.—The words we have received from the Spanish language are not numerous, but they are important. In addition to the ill-fated wordarmada, we have the Spanish forMr, which isDon(from Lat.dominus, a lord), with its feminineDuenna. They gave us alsoalligator, which is our English way of writingel lagarto, the lizard. They also presented us with a large number of words that end ino—such asbuffalo,cargo,desperado,guano,indigo,mosquito,mulatto,negro,potato,tornado, and others. The following is a tolerably full list:—
4.Italian Words.—Italian literature has been read and cultivated in England since the time of Chaucer—since the fourteenth century; and the arts and artists of Italy have for many centuries exerted a great deal of influence on those of England. Hence it is that we owe to the Italian language a large number of words. These relate to poetry, such ascanto,sonnet,stanza; to music, aspianoforte,opera,oratorio,soprano,alto,contralto; to architecture and sculpture, asportico,piazza,cupola,torso; and to painting, asstudio,fresco(an open-air painting), and others. The following is a complete list:—
5.Dutch Words.—We have had for many centuries commercial dealings with the Dutch; and as they, like ourselves, are a great seafaring people, they have given us a number of words relating to the management of ships. In the fourteenth century, the southern part of the German Ocean was the most frequented sea in the world; and the chances of plunder were so great that ships of war had to keep cruising up and down to protect the trading vessels that sailed between England and the Low Countries. The following are the words which we owe to the Netherlands:—
Wear (said of a ship).
6.French Words.—Besides the large additions to our language made by the Norman-French, we have from time to time imported direct from France a number of French words, without change in the spelling, and with little change in the pronunciation. The French have been for centuries the most polished nation in Europe; from France the changing fashions in dress spread over all the countries of the Continent; French literature has been much read in England since the time of Charles II.; and for a long time all diplomatic correspondence between foreign countries and England was carried on in French. Words relating to manners and customs are common, such assoirée,etiquette,séance,élite; and we have also the names of things which were invented in France, such asmitrailleuse,carte-de-visite,coup d’état, and others. Some of these words are, in spelling, exactly like English; and advantage of this has been taken in a well-known epigram:—
The French have taste in all they do,Which we are quite without;For Nature, which to them gave goût,15To us gave only gout.
The French have taste in all they do,
Which we are quite without;
For Nature, which to them gave goût,15
To us gave only gout.
The following is a list of French words which have been imported in comparatively recent times:—
The Scotch have always had a closer connection with the French nation than England; and hence we find in the Scottish dialect of English a number of French words that are not used in South Britain at all. A leg of mutton is called in Scotland agigot; the dish on which it is laid is anashet(fromassiette); a cup for tea or for wine is atassie(fromtasse); the gate of a town iscalled theport; and a stubborn person isdour(Fr.dur, from Lat.durus); while a gentle and amiable person isdouce(Fr.douce, Lat.dulcis).
7.German Words.—It must not be forgotten that English is a Low-German dialect, while the German of books is New High-German. We have never borrowed directly from High-German, because we have never needed to borrow. Those modern German words that have come into our language in recent times are chiefly the names of minerals, with a few striking exceptions, such asloafer, which came to us from the German immigrants to the United States, andplunder, which seems to have been brought from Germany by English soldiers who had served under Gustavus Adolphus. The following are the German words which we have received in recent times:—
8.Hebrew Words.—These, with very few exceptions, have come to us from the translation of the Bible, which is now in use in our homes and churches.Abbotandabbeycome from the Hebrew wordabba, father; and such words ascabalandTalmud, though not found in the Old Testament, have been contributed by Jewish literature. The following is a tolerably complete list:—
9.Other Foreign Words.—The English have always been the greatest travellers in the world; and our sailors always the most daring, intelligent, and enterprising. There is hardly a port or a country in the world into which an English ship has not penetrated; and our commerce has now been maintained for centuries with every people on the face of the globe. We exchange goods with almost every nation and tribe under thesun. When we import articles or produce from abroad, we in general import the native name along with the thing. Hence it is that we haveguano,maize, andtomatofrom the two Americas;coffee,cotton, andtamarindfrom Arabia;tea,congou, andnankeenfrom China;calico,chintz, andrupeefrom Hindostan;bamboo,gamboge, andsagofrom the Malay Peninsula;lemon,musk, andorangefrom Persia;boomerangandkangaroofrom Australia;chibouk,ottoman, andtulipfrom Turkey. The following are lists of these foreign words; and they are worth examining with the greatest minuteness:—
Admiral (Milton writesammiral).
10.Scientific Terms.—A very large number of discoveries in science have been made in this century; and a large number of inventions have introduced these discoveries to the people, and made them useful in daily life. Thus we havetelegraphandtelegram;photograph;telephoneand evenphotophone.The worddynamiteis also modern; and the unhappy employment of it has made it too widely known. Then passing fashions have given us such words asathleteandæsthete. In general, it may be said that, when we wish to give a name to a new thing—a new discovery, invention, or fashion—we have recourse not to our own stores of English, but to the vocabularies of the Latin and Greek languages.
1.The Beowulf, an old English epic, “written on the mainland”
2.Christianityintroduced by St Augustine (and with it many Latin and a few Greek words)
3.Caedmon—‘Paraphrase of the Scriptures,’—first English poem
4.Baeda—“The Venerable Bede”—translated into English part of St John’s Gospel
5.King Alfredtranslated several Latin works into English, among others, Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation’(851)
6.Aelfric, Archbishop of York, turned into English most of the historical books of the Old Testament
7.The Norman Conquest, which introduced Norman French words
8.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, said to have been begun by King Alfred, and brought to a close in
9.OrmorOrrmin’s Ormulum, a poem written in the East Midland dialect, about
10.Normandylost under King John. Norman-English now have their only home in England, and use our English speech more and more
11.Layamontranslates the ‘Brut’ from the French of Robert Wace. This is the first English book (written inSouthern English) after the stoppage of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
12.The Ancren Riwle(“Rules for Anchorites”) written in the Dorsetshire dialect. “It is the forerunner of a wondrous change in our speech.” “It swarms with French words”
13.First Royal Proclamation in English, issued by Henry III.
14.Robert of Gloucester’sChronicle (swarms with foreign terms)
15.Robert Manning, “Robert of Brunn,” compiles the ‘Handlyng Synne.’ “It contains a most copious proportion of French words”
16.Ayenbite of Inwit(= “Remorse of Conscience”)
17.The Great Plague. After this it becomes less and less the fashion to speak French
18.Sir John Mandeville, first writer of the newer English Prose—in his ‘Travels,’ which contained a large admixture of French words. “His English is the speech spoken at Court in the latter days of King Edward III.”
19.Englishbecomes the language of the Law Courts
20.Wickliffe’sBible
21.Geoffrey Chaucer, the first great English poet, author of the ‘Canterbury Tales’; born in 1340, died
22.William Caxton, the first English printer, brings out (in the Low Countries) the first English book ever printed, the ‘Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye,’—“not written with pen and ink, as other books are, to the end that every man may have them at once”
23.First English Bookprinted in England (by Caxton) the ‘Game and Playe of the Chesse’
24.Lord Berners’translation of Froissart’s Chronicle
25.William Tyndale, by his translation of the Bible “fixed our tongue once for all.” “His New Testament has become the standard of our tongue: the first ten verses of the Fourth Gospel are a good sample of his manly Teutonic pith”
26.Edmund Spenserpublishes his ‘Faerie Queene.’ “Now began the golden age of England’s literature; and this age was to last for about fourscore years”
27.Our English Bible, based chiefly on Tyndale’s translation. “Those who revised the English Bible in 1611 were bidden to keep as near as they could to the old versions, such as Tyndale’s”
28.William Shakespearecarried the use of the English language to the greatest height of which it was capable. He employed 15,000 words. “The last act of ‘Othello’ is a rare specimen of Shakespeare’s diction: of every five nouns, verbs, and adverbs, four are Teutonic”(Born 1564)
29.John Milton, “the most learned of English poets,” publishes his ‘Paradise Lost,’—“a poem in which Latin words are introduced with great skill”
30.The Prayer-Bookrevised and issued in its final form. “Arewas substituted forbein forty-three places. This was a great victory of the North over the South”
31.John Bunyanwrites his ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’—a book full of pithy English idiom. “The common folk had the wit at once to see the worth of Bunyan’s masterpiece, and the learned long afterwards followed in the wake of the common folk”(Born 1628)
32.Sir Thomas Browne, the author of ‘Urn-Burial’ and other works written in a highly Latinised diction, such as the ‘Religio Medici,’ written
33.Dr Samuel Johnsonwas the chief supporter of the use of “long-tailed words in osity and ation,” such as his novel called ‘Rasselas,’ published
34.Tennyson, Poet-Laureate, a writer of the best English—“a countryman of Robert Manning’s, and a careful student of old Malory, has done much for the revival of pure English among us”(Born 1809)
1.Literature.—The history of English Literature is, in its external aspect, an account of the best books in prose and in verse that have been written by English men and English women; and this account begins with a poem brought over from the Continent by our countrymen in the fifth century, and comes down to the time in which we live. It covers, therefore, a period of nearly fourteen hundred years.
2.The Distribution of Literature.—We must not suppose that literature has always existed in the form of printed books. Literature is a living thing—a living outcome of the living mind; and there are many ways in which it has been distributed to other human beings. The oldest way is, of course, by one person repeating a poem or other literary composition he has made to another; and thus literature is stored away, not upon book-shelves, but in the memory of living men. Homer’s poems are said to have been preserved in this way to the Greeks for five hundred years. Father chanted them to son; the sons to their sons; and so on from generation to generation. The next way of distributing literature is by the aid of signs called letters made upon leaves, flattened reeds, parchment, or the inner bark of trees. The next is by the help of writing upon paper. The last is by the aid of type upon paper. This has existed in England for more than four hundred years—since the year 1474; and thus it is that our libraries contain many hundreds of thousands of valuable books.For the same reason is it, most probably, that as our power of retaining the substance and multiplying the copies of books has grown stronger, our living memories have grown weaker. This defect can be remedied only by education—that is, by training the memories of the young. While we possess so many printed books, it must not be forgotten that many valuable works exist still in manuscript—written either upon paper or on parchment.
3.Verse, the earliest form of Literature.—It is a remarkable fact that the earliest kind of composition in all languages is in the form ofVerse. The oldest books, too, are those which are written in verse. Thus Homer’s poems are the oldest literary work of Greece; the Sagas are the oldest productions of Scandinavian literature; and the Beowulf is the oldest piece of literature produced by the Anglo-Saxon race. It is also from the strong creative power and the lively inventions of poets that we are even now supplied with new thoughts and new language—that the most vivid words and phrases come into the language; just as it is the ranges of high mountains that send down to the plains the ever fresh soil that gives to them their unending fertility. And thus it happens that our present English speech is full of words and phrases that have found their way into the most ordinary conversation from the writings of our great poets—and especially from the writings of our greatest poet, Shakespeare. The fact that the life of prose depends for its supplies on the creative minds of poets has been well expressed by an American writer:—